Ascension
by Painted Sky
Summary: You never hold me down. AshexVaan


**A/N: I'm trying something different here. I hope you like it. :) The style is pretty much copied off of Fortified Solitude, by marapoza. Definitely give that fic a look, even if you're not a big BalFran person. It's just brilliant. Anyway, yeah. Just in case you weren't expecting it, this is AshexVaan. ;) If you don't like it, A) don't read this, or B) pretend I'm talking about Balthier. Either one works for me. **

oo1. wish

Every now and then, he would wish that things would have worked out differently.

oo2. fairytale

When Vaan was younger, he used to believe that life was like a fairytale, but eventually he would realize that the pirate and the princess don't always end up together in the end.

oo3. stars

He still remembers that night at Jahara, when the stars were brighter than he had ever seen them.

oo4. obligation

No one knows that the Queen of Dalmasca has considered giving it all up.

oo5. wine

One night, while more than slightly intoxicated, Ashe murmured to the King of Dalmasca that she never imagined that it would end up this way.

oo6. letter

He wrote her a letter and destroyed shortly thereafter.

oo7. cowardice

Ashe still relieves the moment he called her a coward.

oo8. sky

Every now and then, Vaan looks up at the sky and wonders if she's looking up too.

oo9. copilot

Secretly, he knows that he would give all the treasure in the world to glance over and see her.

o1o. reminiscing

It could be said that she lives in the past, constantly rehashing a life that she gave up to serve her country and her people.

o11. purpose

She's too terrified to ask herself if this is the life she was meant for, after all.

o12. prison

Vaan kept telling himself he was free, but after time passed he realized that everyone has their own prisons.

o13. star-crossed

She likes to think that there's something beautiful about their tragic story, but every now and then, she asks herself if they messed up somewhere along the way.

o14. wistful

Once in a great while, he wonders why he pines for the one person he can't have, but every time, he reminds himself that real pirates don't pine for anything—or anyone.

o15. necessary

The first time he appears at her window, they realize that they both knew that it was inevitable.

o16. twilight

Vaan loves sunsets, but she has always been afraid of endings.

o17. glass

She once smashed a window with her fist just to see something break.

o18. faith

It has been a long time since either of them has believed in gods, but the desire to believe in something greater than themselves has never left.

o19. sword

She's scared to pick up the sword these days, because the last time she did, it was too heavy to hold.

o2o. history

It bothers her that their names will never be next to one another's in the Dalmascan history books, though they are both destined to become legendary.

o21. stone

Vaan secretly thinks that she would be an excellent card player, with that stony face of hers.

o22. fire

She has never been one to touch the fire twice, but for him she'll make an exception.

o23. surreptitious

Whether they'll admit it or not, a secret love affair is just their style.

o24. grandeur

Once upon a time, Vaan asked himself what life would be like in the palace, but he realized that it never would have worked out anyway.

o25. fear

The Queen rejects fear for the sake of her people, and the pirate rejects it for his own sake.

o26. dream

From time to time, Vaan wakes up and asks himself if it was all an elaborate dream.

o27. scars

Her battle wounds are fading. His never will.

o28. curtains

Ashe tells herself that they draw the curtains closed to protect her people, but she fears that it is, rather out of shame and guilt.

o29. travelling

When she is away, he fears for her every minute of every day.

o3o. irony

It is years before he realizes how much more painful it is to love and be loved by her than it is to be alone.

o31. damaged

They talk of their past on that palace rooftop, and many times over they realize that a damaged heart finds the most comfort with another that has felt the same pain.

o32. thrice

Late one night, the Queen decides that if, fates forbid, she may have to marry a third time, she would marry for love rather than politics.

o33. loss

They find it almost humorous how loss can bring two very different people together like this, and make their hearts one in the same.

o34. photograph

Every time she walks down the hallway, she realizes that she won't have a single picture to show her grandchildren when they ask about true love.

o35. memory

When he watched her marry Rasler, he never would have guessed that he would fall head over heels for that very same woman.

o36. promises

They never make promises, because they know that nothing really lasts forever.

o37. caught

"I'm a sky pirate," he says, "getting caught is never part of the plan."

o38. breathe

She forgets that every moment of every day, she is breathing.

o39. husband

Though the affair is never spoken of, she knows that he knows.

o4o. dawn

The thought of him makes it easier for her to get up in the morning and face the dawn.

o41. mirror

It will never fail to amaze Vaan how two very different people can somehow be the same.

o42. smile

When she smiles, he can't help but smile back.

o43. ordinary

Ashe sometimes wishes that they had been born ordinary people leading ordinary lives so that the fates might not have cause to forbid their love.

o44. unspoken

She eventually reaches an unspoken understanding with the King of Dalmasca, upon the realization that he married her for politics just as much as she did him.

o45. first

She always thought that her first love would be her truest, but as she grew older, she realized that the first isn't necessarily the one that counts.

o46. legacy

The Dalmascan name must be carried on, by whatever means necessary, she decided.

o47. yearning

He can leave in the morning quickly and effortlessly, without making a sound, but the whole time he finds himself yearning to stay.

o48. forgiveness

When she doubts the integrity of their actions, he always replies with, "A wise man once told me that it is better to ask forgiveness than permission," but she always points out that it is far too late to ask fthe permission of her country.

o49. rain

Once, she admits that it is when it rains that she feels most alive.

o5o. ascension

"You never hold me down."


End file.
